Wednesday, September 30, 2015

With Halloween right around the corner, I'm sure we're all starting to think about decorating the house with spider-webs and fake skeletons. Well, the ones of us that are cool at all, right? Yep, I'm already planning what kind of faces I'm going to carve into the ten pumpkins that I'll be buying for Jack o' Lanterns. Then my mind wanders to a nice batch of baked pumpkin seeds right out of the oven covered in cinnamon and sugar. So the other day when I found a package on my doorstep filled with a delightful array of flavored pumpkin seeds, I figured I was definitely in the mood to give these a try. Yes, the good folks over at Super Seedz were nice enough to send over a bag of each flavor of their famous pumpkin seeds. Some I was excited about, others not so much, but I vowed to try each one!

Now before some of you get your panties in a bunch, that we're reviewing something that's promoted as a healthy snack, I'm going to say this: OPEN YOUR MIND, FRIEND! I'll give anything a try once, healthy or not. Also I'm sure a lot of you enjoy a bowl of nuts? Perhaps some honey roasted cashews? Pecans? Almonds? Not much different from a handful of pumpkin seeds, right? Well I'm just here to give you my unbiased review so that's what I'm going to do. ONE FLAVOR AT A TIME! First up....

The first thing I'm going to say about these seeds is that they blow the ones I make at my house out of the water. They have no outer shell on them. That awful outer shell that gets stuck in your teeth and gums? Out of the equation. You just have the seeds and the flavor. And the these have plenty of great cinnamon sugar flavor! They are very easy to just pop in your mouth by the handful. These were great!

Sea Salt? Zzzzzzzzzzzz. I guess that's better than regular salt, right? Salt from the sea makes it sound just a bit more exotic and dangerous. But yeah, these aren't bad. The seeds themselves have a great flavor but the salt doesn't add too much.

Coco Joe are a weird medley of coffee and chocolate flavor. The flavor is definitely bold and the seeds are very coated with it, compared to the others. They aren't bad but the cocoa flavor seems very fake. The flavor reminds me a lot of Cocoa Pebbles, but mixed with coffee. I found these interesting but couldn't eat too many of them in a row.

Somewhat Spicy...it's all really in the name. Anyone who reads this blog faithfully knows I'm not a fan of really spicy things. Will I eat them on a dare when I'm with my stupid friends? Yes, and I hate every second of it. That being said, I'm more into spicy than I was in my younger days, but I still don't love it. I thought these had a slight tangy taste and then a dull burn for a little bit. Nothing too bad, just...somewhat spicy. If you're into that, you'll be into these.

Tomato Italiano reminded me of the flavor of those old Pizzaria chips, but on pumpkin seeds. Do you remember those?

I can't imagine in a million years why they stopped making them. WHO DIDN'T LIKE THOSE?! But yeah, these are pretty tasty! It definitely reminds of that pizza flavor from those old chips or maybe the Pizza Pringles? But hey, that's a good thing in my book.

Curious Curry weren't my favorite because I'm not really a curry fan. To me these taste like someone rubbed them on a bouillon cube. But this is one of those things where it's just a personal preference because I let someone try them who loves curry and he nearly ate the whole bag. So curry fans? You'll love these. Me? DID NOT.

Maple Sugar & Sea Salt were my favorite of the entire bunch. I'm not going to even beat around the bush. I'm from New England and maple syrup runs through our veins. Toss in a little exciting sea salt and you've got me sold. These burst with sweet maple flavor and I'll have you know this bad was gone in no time. Definitely a delicious snack!

Really Naked. These ones were plain. I was expecting to taste a few and then scoff at them. "WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT PLAIN FLAVORED ANYTHING?!" But you know what? These really give you a chance to taste the actual pumpkin seeds without anything else getting in the way and they aren't bad! But they aren't bad for a handful. Then after that I was reaching for one of the more tasty options.

And finally, the flavor I dreaded trying the most...SUPER SPICY! I had flashbacks of the worst experience with a hot item ever, (At a place called Bingas Wingas in Yarmouth, Maine...their 08' Fire Sauce is hell in a bottle), and I knew that these could never be close to that bad. So I filled my hand and dumped them in my mouth. These were very similar in flavor to the Somewhat spicy, but the heat was turned way up. They ended up not being too bad though. I was able to keep myself composed and didn't rush for a drink. Just nice flavorful steady burn for a bit. If you're a fan of the heat, these might be good for you, but maybe not hot enough!

Looking for something different to snack on? Give Super Seedz a try! Definitely an out of the ordinary review for us but I thought they were overall a pretty solid product and I would definitely buy up a bag of the Maple & Sea Salt again if I saw them in a store!

Be sure to check out their website for more great info on these! You can find it HERE. They let you know all about the flavors, and if you're into it, the plentiful healthy info about these. AND if you're one of our readers who are concerned about GMO's and Food allergies, these might be your new favorite snack!

Monday, September 21, 2015

Depending on where you are in the country, the term "Smokehouse" might mean something completely different from one another. I'll leave my fellow FGFB brother living in the unshackled free state of Washington to handle those ones, but me, for now, will deal with another kind of smoke. One that makes meats taste out of this world, and makes you want to gorge yourself until you can't think straight........uhhhhh Welcome, my friends, to Goody Cole's.

Located in the small town of Brentwood,NH, about halfway between Manchester and Rochester, Goody Cole's Smokehouse sits annoyingly far away, but when you pull in you wonder how is this place so packed at 2 in the afternoon? You walk in, seating is an issue, so it's good to have another member of your crew be on table watch while you're in line to order. The decor is folky, complete with license plates littering the ceiling and walls.

claaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssic

They have varying degrees of simple BBQ plates, ribs, chicken, pulled pork. Nothing too fancy, just straight up BBQ. I was a tad disappointed looking at the menu, but you've got to remember what kind of place your in, and instead of fancy garnished bullshit, you get a plate full of meat, which I can respect! I decided to get a 2 meat combo, grabbing up chicken, pulled pork, which had a side of cornbread, garlic mashed potatoes, and mac n cheese.

you'll notice the sauces....more on that in a moment.

And of course, EVERYTHING about this meal was delicious. The chicken wings, which normally I scoff at and never order because, what am I an animal? Gnawing on a giant bone, licking ferociously at it trying to get every scrap of meat I can off of it? I'm a civilized human being who likes his chickens ground into a fine mush, processed through million dollar machines, the ghost spice of billions of dead chickens DNA catching on and grabbing hold to then be reassembled into a meat shaped tender, easy for dipping! But even without THAT, these chicken wings were cooked perfectly, crispy outsides, deliciousness within.

The pulled pork receives an honorable mention here, It tasted how it should, wet, thick, tender, but was missing something. Not bad, not exceptional just, good. That's where these guys step in:

idea for the next Pixar film

In the BBQ world, sauce is vital. I know there's a lot of BBQists who will bitch and complain that what matters is the meat, which, yeah, it does, but at the same time you can have quality prepared meat, but it can't jump that hurdle into greatness, without a great sauce.

The problem here was, NONE of these sauces were exceptional. I gravitated towards the vinegar BBQ sauce and mustard, but everything else, was kind of disappointing. That seems to be the story with Goody Cole's, it's solid, everything tastes great, the food, expertly prepared, but I feel that a place that has this much cred, should have blown what's left of my hair back. Fortunately, the supporting characters of this meal, knew that they had mediocrity to tend with, and decided to deliver the performance of a lifetime.

The cornbread was deliciously cakey, but wet enough to hold itself together, and delivered that rush of corn goodness into your mouth.

The mac and cheese, was what you'd expect from a BBQ joint, it had that odd cheese grittiness to it, but it had another layer of some kind of cheese (I'm yet to find out what) that smoothed it over, and turned this little guy into a key player of the meal. I'd be tempted to drive there just for this, but I'm pretty sure I'd swerve into oncoming traffic because there's no way it's making it back home.

but as I was saying earlier, nothing to make it AMAZING. I think possibly

what might give the place it's long and storied rep, is the fact that they deliver that

solid BBQ again and again. They know what

they are and do a fine job doing it, and that, I can appreciate.

I give Goody Cole's in Brentwood, NH a

B-Josh

As always, if you find something you'd like us to review, drop us an email about it! You can email us at fatguyfoodblog@gmail.com! Tell us about a restaurant, snack item, or new fast food junk you want us to try and if we can make it happen, we will!
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Wednesday, September 16, 2015

The fall snack season is here in full force already! Everywhere you look it's "PUMPKIN SPICE ________." I mean, beer companies start putting out their fall flavors in friggin' July these days, so I'm surprised we aren't getting all of our pumpkin flavored crap at the same time, but I'm happy we don't! By the way, if you are someone that buys and drinks pumpkin beer before it's cold outside...you and I have very differing views of the world. But to each his own! You can set up your Christmas tree in September for all I care. Pssh. I don't care at all. You know what I care about? M&M's! So let's review some!

Well, well, well. This season our friends over at Mars decided to try something very new for the M&M candy line. Pumpkin Spice Latte! Which, if you aren't aware, has become sort of a buzz phrase already this fall season. You can't scroll through three people in your Facebook feed without someone posting some variant of a meme talking about how "White Girls Love Pumpkin Spice Lattes." I chuckled the first time I saw it. Now, a few weeks and ten thousand views later, whenever I see it, I want to go buy a Pumpkin Spice Latte and bash it over somebodies head. But, the question at hand, here is this: Do the Pumpkin Spice Latte M&M's taste like a pumpkin spice latte?

Ehhhhhh...kinda? Here's the deal, when you eat a handful of these, you can taste pumpkin and even a coffee flavor. They got that part right. But the base of it is chocolate and that's the flavor that overpowers these like crazy. These are chocolate, and then you say, "Oh, yes, there it is. A slight pumpkin spice/coffee flavor in the background.

I will say, however, that the more of these you eat, the stronger the spice flavor gets. So later on it ends up being more chocolate with a strange spice flavor. But it never reaches the point where you're asking yourself if you've just taken a sip of an actual Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Fear not, white girls, if you absolutely need to buy these, you will be greeted with some faint pumpkin spice latte flavor, but in the end it tastes more like a MOCHA PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE. Which doesn't sound too bad, but in real life, I wasn't very impressed with these. I give them a C. Points for trying something new for the best time of the year, but maybe chocolate wasn't the best base for these. Big thanks to Sue for hooking us up with a bag of these since I could not find them anywhere!

Next up is the Pecan Pie M&M's! Ol' Green M&M is looking extra sexy on this package, and if I'm reading it right, we're supposed to believe she's a country gal. Wearing some cowboy boots, sitting on a bale of hay, with that piece of wheat between those sultry lips. If anyone knows about pecan pie, it's a country gal, right? I'm not sure if that's right at all, but that's what they want us to believe here so let's run with it. I never loved Pecan Pie growing up, but my brother makes a BAD ASS chocolate Pecan Pie so I've learned to love them now. But do these capture that familiar flavor?

You're damn right they did! Let me tell you this, I've never had an M&M smell so strongly of the flavor as these. The second I tore this bag open (and you can see that is no exaggeration), the room filled with the smell of Pecan Pie. Seriously. It's pretty intense! The color scheme of these is kinda gross, off-white, dull yellow and dark brown. I get that these are fall colors, but come on. There should be at least one shade of orange in there! But that's really the only bad thing I can say about these, because they taste awesome! They taste so much like Pecan Pie that it might weird you out a bit...

But take a moment for your brain to catch up and you'll realize, yeah it's a bit more like a chocolate pecan pie, but they pretty much nailed this flavor with ease. It's hard to deny that these taste exactly as they should.

In the end, I give these Pecan Pie M&M's a solid A. These win out because I feel like the Pecan Pie flavor is the prevalent taste and chocolate is in the background. The opposite of the Pumpkin Pie Latte M&M's. These are great and I highly recommend you fill your fall candy dish with some of these ASAP, because since they are limited edition, you know they will be gone soon!

If you're wondering where you can track these down, keep in mind that the Pumpkin Spice Latte M&M's are Target exclusive and the Pecan Pie M&M's are exclusive to Walmart. So if you want them both you're gonna have to hit two stores! BOGUS!

As always, if you find something you'd like us to review, drop us an email about it! You can email us at fatguyfoodblog@gmail.com! Tell us about a restaurant, snack item, or new fast food junk you want us to try and if we can make it happen, we will!
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Friday, September 11, 2015

Ah yes, the summer is coming to and end. It might still be hot where you are, and the leaves haven't yet started changing. However, once we start seeing pumpkin flavored items showing up in the stores, we know that Fall is almost here. Now, this isn't pumpkin flavored, but just in time for all that nonsense to start up, Hershey's debuts their newest limited edition candy bar...The Hershey's Candy Corn bar!

Once upon a time Mike would have jumped at the chance to review this. He loved candy corn, God bless his poor soul. But since he vanished a few months ago under strange circumstances, I guess this review is up to me! Actually, now that I look back, I was the one to review both the Candy Corn M&M's AND the Candy Corn Oreos! Maybe I have a secret love for Candy Corn that I haven't yet come to grips with. So let's do this!

As someone who doesn't really enjoy candy corn, I can't fathom how it's still around. Who goes into the Halloween candy aisle and amidst all the wonders to be found there, leaves with a bag of candy corn? WHO? WHO DOES THIS? I can't understand it at all. Is it just old ladies? Well whoever it is, someone out there likes chewing on waxy little blobs of sweet "corn". But when I read this package and it says "Candy corn creme with candy bits" I'm not too excited. But as I ripped this monster open I'll tell you one thing that jumped out, the aroma. I left the room after taking pictures of this and returned twenty minutes later and could smell it in the hallway. Major Candy Corn aroma happening here. It's like I had a Bath and Body Works Candy Corn candle burning in here for an entire night. Is that even a thing? I'm not going to look. I'll leave that up to you readers!

I'll add another positive while we're at it. I think the Candy Corn bar was quite pretty! White chocolate with cool orange and yellow sprinkles throughout it. Well done, Hershey's! but people want to know about the taste. I'll tell you this...it's better than Candy Corn. Way better. The white chocolate gives it a very creamy texture and the sprinkles inside it are clearly a different consistency. They really could be made of candy corn. They have that waxy, chewy, candy corn feel.

If I had to choose between this and eating a handful of plain old Candy Corn? I'm going with this bar ten times over. It definitely captures the flavor of Candy Corn while putting a spin on it. That spin is covering it in white chocolate. Granted, that white chocolate is flavored like Candy Corn, but you aren't left with the weird aftertaste and debris that the real deal leaves behind.

In the end, this is a fun gimmick and worth checking out if you're into Candy Corn. Or, even if you aren't. I'm not really and I finished the entire thing no problem! I think in the end I would have liked to see Hershey's do something a little more wild with their limited edition flavors. But if this is as crazy as they get, it could be worse.
I give the Hershey's Candy Corn bar a B. They nailed the flavor, 100% even if it's not a flavor I completely love. Let's hope the other candy companies have some more exciting limited edition flavors for the 2015 Halloween candy season!

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Friday, September 4, 2015

I'll start this review by saying, I didn't always like guacamole. Hell, I straight up didn't like it at all. To me it looked like something someone might barf up if they were possessed by a demon. I tried it a few times here and there but just couldn't get into it. Then some shift in my taste buds happen and now I want to eat Guac seven days a week and twice on Sunday. So when I saw that the elusive McDonald's Guacamole burger was available in my area, I decided to give it a whirl.

But when I walked into McDonald's I was faced with a choice. Burger? Or this NEW BUTTERMILK CRISPY CHICKEN! Of course I ordered it with the chicken. Two birds with one stone! I can try both of these things in one review, it will be great! So let's see how this Guacamole Chicken Sandwich measures up! (confused? Stay with me.)

Aaaaaaand here's my Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Guacamole sandwich. What's that? You don't see any chicken there? Yeah. Thanks McDonald's. You managed to get the box right, but somewhere between that and choosing between the burger patty or the chicken, something went wrong.

SO I GUESS I'M REVIEWING THE BURGER NOW. If you hadn't guessed already, this burger is...weird. The bun is the same one on the Clubhouse burger, and it's actually really good, but I'm a fan of fresh, chewy buns. It's got a thick "beef" patty that seems to be the same as the rest of their larger burgers. Also you get lettuce (ugh) a slice of white cheddar, pico de Gallo, and the star of the show, the guacamole.

The flavor of the Guac is mixed with the pico de Gallo and what seems to be a large amount of lime juice, most likely to keep this strange fast food guac from going brown too quickly. So it's a very tangy, citrus flavor that really stands out. It's not terrible, but it's not really what I was hoping for. The guacamole itself seems somehow a little more slimy than usual? I guess it could be from the huge tomato chunks and fifteen foot sheet of lettuce they slapped on here too. Overall, it's an okay burger, but I was kind of wishing I had just gotten something with a lot more bacon and cheese.

I've never had guacamole on a burger and I don't think I will again after this. Not that this burger was especially bad, but because I don't think guacamole works within the burger build. This thing was so slippery I had to be careful it didn't come apart in my hands. It was basically two pieces. Everything above the Guac, and then everything below. It seemed to shift and slide with a mind of it's own and by the end I tossed the final couple bites back into the box with my hands covered in green slime and declared I was done with it.

This might be a rare sandwich, because it's only available in certain areas, but if you see it in yours and want to try it, perhaps try the chicken instead. Maybe the breading will help keep the sandwich together a bit better, but if not, you're not missing much here, Guac fans. Perhaps now I'll turn my attention back to trying to get Chili's to bring back the Fire Roasted Corn Guacamole!